I was appalled to read in the Bar News that Sen. Marco Rubio has “put a hold” on the nomination of Judge Brian J. Davis, a distinguished African-American jurist, to the federal bench.

This action — somewhat odd since Rubio, in fact, had nominated Judge Davis — was taken in deference to Iowa Senator Grassley, who has a problem with the “lens” through which he believes Judge Davis “views the world.”

Specifically, Grassley would disqualify Judge Davis because he had the nerve to suggest in the mid-1990’s that race played a part in the ouster of Surgeon General Joycelyn Elder and in the Senate’s filibuster of an African-American nominee for her successor. The ironies here are head-spinning.

The bottom line seems to be that viewing the world through the lens of a racial minority is unacceptable to these powerful Republican senators.James LohmanAustin, Texas